Premier League 1992-93
The 1992–93 FA Premier League was the first season of the Premier League, the top division of English football. The league was made up of the 22 clubs that broke away from The Football League at the end of the 1991–92 season. The new league was backed up by a five-year, £305 million deal with BSkyB to televise Premiership matches. In concept, the Premier League was identical to the old First Division of the Football League, which was now reduced to three divisions. Overview Background In May 1992, the breakaway league signed a broadcasting rights contract with Sky and the BBC valued at £304 million, the largest such agreement in the history of British sport. The league's executive committee was unable, however, to secure title sponsorship for the new competition after eight clubs blocked a proposed £13 million deal with brewers Bass. Nonetheless, clubs began to utilise their dramatically increased wealth to fund a series of high-profile transfers. Although the idea of a super league had been mentioned by football's governing bodies and evaluated by the media since the mid 1980s, plans for a new Premier League of 22 clubs were first unveiled by the Football Association in October 1990, and included in the Football Association's Blueprint for the Future of Football, published in June 1991. The majority of First Division clubs, particularly long-established top clubs including Arsenal and Manchester United, were in favour of a breakaway from the Football League, although Football League president Bill Fox criticised the planned Premier League as an attempt by the Football Association to "hijack" the First Division. Shortly before the season began, newly promoted Blackburn Rovers signed Southampton's 21-year-old England international striker Alan Shearer for a new British record fee variously reported as £3.3 million, £3.4 million, or £3.6 million. Several other players moved for fees of £2 million or more, including Arsenal's David Rocastle, who joined Leeds United, Dean Saunders, who moved from Liverpool to Aston Villa, and Teddy Sheringham, who left Nottingham Forest for Tottenham Hotspur. The structure of the new league was identical to that of the previous season's Football League First Division, comprising 22 teams, with each playing the other 21 twice for a total of 42 matches. Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough had been promoted from the old Second Division as champions and runners-up respectively, and Blackburn Rovers took the third promotion place after winning the 1991–92 Second Division playoff. Season summary The first Premier League title went to Manchester United, the club's first title for 26 years. Their title was achieved with a 10-point lead over runners-up Aston Villa. Norwich City led the table for much of the season, but their challenge faded in the final weeks of the season and were out of contention three games before the season was over after they lost 3–1 to Ipswich Town. Norwich did however finish in third place, achieving European qualification in Mike Walker's debut season as manager. Blackburn, in the top division for the first time in almost 30 years, finished in fourth place, also taking the lead of the league early in the season but suffering a shortage of goals after 16-goal Alan Shearer was injured just after Christmas. The title race after Christmas was largely between the clubs who finished in the top four after early challenges from likes of Arsenal, Coventry City, and QPR were not sustained. Nottingham Forest's league form had suffered through the sale of key players like Des Walker and Teddy Sheringham, and they were bottom of the Premier League for much of the 1992–93 season. Their relegation was confirmed in early May when they lost to Sheffield United, and manager Brian Clough announced his retirement after 18 years as manager, which had yielded one league title, two European Cups and four League Cups. Next to go were newly promoted Middlesbrough, who fell from mid-table at Christmas to go down in second from bottom place. Last to go down were Crystal Palace, who failed to win their final game of the season which would have instead consigned Oldham Athletic to the final relegation place. Title holders Leeds United finished 17th, which became one of the worst-ever title defences in the English top flight. The top scorer in the new Premier League was Teddy Sheringham, who found the net for Nottingham Forest in their opening game of the season before being sold to Tottenham Hotspur, scoring a further 21 goals for the North London side in the league. PFA Player of the Year was Paul McGrath of Aston Villa. FWA Player of the Year was Chris Waddle, who helped Sheffield Wednesday achieve runners-up spot in both of the cups after ending his three-year spell in France. PFA Young Player of the Year was Ryan Giggs, who won the award for the second year running, and also picked up a league title medal with Manchester United. Promotion and relegation Start of season Teams promoted from the First Division 1991-92 * Ipswich Town (Champions) * Middlesbrough (Runners-up) * Blackburn Rovers (Playoff winners) End of season Teams relegated to the First Division 1993-94 * Crystal Palace * Middlesbrough * Nottingham Forest Teams Twenty-two teams competed in the league – the top nineteen teams from the First Division and the three teams promoted from the Second Division. The promoted teams were Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers, returning to the top flight after an absence of six, three and twenty-six years respectively. They replaced Luton Town, Notts County and West Ham United, ending their top flight spells of ten, one and eleven years respectively. Stadiums and locations Personnel and kits (as of 9 May 1993) Managerial changes League table Season statistics Scoring Top scorers The top goalscorer in the Premier League's inaugural season was Teddy Sheringham, who scored one goal for Nottingham Forest before his early-season transfer followed by 21 for Tottenham Hotspur for a total of 22. Alan Shearer had scored 16 goals by Christmas before suffering a season-ending injury. Hat-tricks :Note: (H) – Home; (A) – Away Top assists External links *1992-93 Premier League Season at RSSSF 1992-93 Category:1992–93 in English football